COLFAX AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Volume XXVII Issue 2 July 2014 See us on the Web at www.ColfaxHistory.org CAHS OFFICERS President: Swend Miller Vice President: Bonnie Wilson Recording Secretary: Joann Giest Corresponding Secretary: Lynda Couchman Treasurer: Barbara Kelly Director At Large: Walt Wilson Parliamentarian: Jim Flynn Membership: Chris Miller Museum and Archive Director: Helen Wayland Cobblestones Editor: Mel Couchman Webmaster: Dirk Gifford PROGRAM IDEAS Members we need your help! Do you have an idea for a program? A passion for history you would like to share? Would you like to put on a program? If so, please contact Walt or Bonnie Wilson at 530-878-6640, or email them at [email protected]CAHS HERITAGE MUSEUM 99 Railroad Street, in the Depot Open Daily: 10:00 to 3:00 CAHS members receive 10% discount in the Gift Shop. VOLUNTEERS WELCOME Museum help is always welcome, encouraged, and really needed. Contact Helen Wayland at 530-346-8599, or stop by the Museum. USS Mercury
Transcript
COLFAX AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Volume XXVII Issue 2 July 2014
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
C A H SO F F I C E R S
PresidentSwend Miller
Vice PresidentBonnie Wilson
Recording SecretaryJoann Giest
Corresponding SecretaryLynda Couchman
TreasurerBarbara Kelly
Director At LargeWalt Wilson
ParliamentarianJim Flynn
MembershipChris Miller
Museum and Archive DirectorHelen Wayland
Cobblestones EditorMel Couchman
WebmasterDirk Gifford
P R O G R A M I D E A SMembers we need your helpDo you have an idea for aprogram A passion for historyyou would like to share Wouldyou like to put on a program Ifso please contact Walt orBonnie Wilson at530-878-6640 or email themat bonwallyhotmailcom
CAHSHERITAGE MUSEUM
99 Railroad Street in the Depot
Open Daily 1000 to 300
CAHS members receive 10discount in the Gift Shop
VOLUNTEERSWELCOME
Museum help is always welcomeencouraged and really needed
Contact Helen Wayland at530-346-8599 or stop by theMuseum
U S S M e r c u r y
Page 2 July 2014
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
Editors Note When we last leftHomerrsquos story he was operating aphotographic studio in Mott NorthDakota
Excerpts from Homers WWINavy Diary
On May l4th 1917 I left home andwent to Miles City Montana whereI enlisted in the Navy as a Fireman3rd class I was then sent to SaltLake City where I was sworn in onthe 18th of Mayand at that place Isaw a sailor for the first timeI with many other boys was sentto Bremerton Washington fortraining but it was very little wegot for on June 2nd there wereabout 300 of us sent to the eastcoast I was to go on the USS Con-necticut I did not much care about
going for I knew I would be a longway from good old North DakotaBut we had a fine trip across theUS and I saw lots of beautifulsights the people treating us fineall along After a six day ride (dur-ing which they wouldnt even let usoff the train we stayed on thattrain same seat clear across theUnited States) we reached New-port News Virginia We were thentaken by boat to the Navy Yard atPortsmouth where we spent onenight and the next day all of uswere taken up to York River wherethe fleet was at that time It wassure a wonderful sight for most ofus who had never seen a battleshipbefore and here there were at least
25 or more anchored out in thestreamI was soon on my ship whichseemed very interesting and new Iwas only on the Connecticut abouta week when I got sick and wassent to the hospital ship Solaceand from there to the Navy hospi-tal at Portsmouth After two weeksI was again OK and was sent backto the Connecticut where I spentanother week and then I with sev-eral other boys was sent to theUSS Ohio for training I was on theOhio about 6 weeks During thattime we were out at sea most ofthe time and it sure was hard workdown in those old hot fire-roomsand then to top it off with twice a
H O M E R R E L D R I D G ET h e N a v y Y e a r s - W W I
Storekeeper 1st ClassHomer Russell EldridgeHe was born in Lafayette Indianaon January 28 1895 and prior toAmerica entering the First WorldWar Eldridge enlisted into the Unit-ed States Navy Prior to enlistmentEldridge was a photographer incivilian life He enlisted at MilesCity Montana and on May 191917 he reported aboard the Re-ceiving Ship at Puget SoundWashington
He served aboard the Puget SoundReceiving Ship until June 2 1917when he received his first assign-ment aboard a ship On that datehe was assigned to the battleshipUSS Connecticut then at NorfolkNavy Yard where he spent 18 daysuntil he became ill and was trans-ferred to the hospital ship USSSolace where he remained for 3days when he was sent to the Na-
val Hospital in Portsmouth Virgin-ia Once released from the hospitalhe returned to the USS Connecti-cut where he served until July 71917
After that he served on anotherbattleship the USS Ohio whichlasted until August 20 when he wassent to the Receiving Ship at theNew York Navy Yard There at theNew York Navy Yard he waiteduntil he was assigned to the USSMercury on August 31 1917 Hewould serve on the Mercurythrough the duration of the warWhile the Mercury was being fittedout and readied for sea Eldridgewas again in the hospital this timeat the New York Navy Yard afterhis release he returned to the Mer-cury
He spent his first 91 days in thenavy at the rank of Fireman 3rdClass and then was advanced toFireman 2nd Class still aboard the
Mercury Sometime after that hewas advanced to the rank of Store-keeper 1st Class Once the Mercu-ry was finished with her navyduties the US Navy crews weredischarged and she was eventuallyscraped Storekeeper 1st ClassHomer R Eldridge Service Num-ber 1403732 USN was HonorablyDischarged from the Navy at SaltLake City Utah on September 261919 He was awarded the WWIVictory Medal with a TransportClasp
Homer Russell Eldridge passedaway on October 14 1995 and isburied in section J in the ColfaxCemetery in Placer County Cali-fornia
The above article and the photos of theUSS Mercury on the cover and page 5 arefrom the Web book ldquoUSS Mercury WWITroopshiprdquo The article above is from theonly chapter in the book dedicated to anenlisted man below the rank of Chief PettyOfficer
July 2014 Page 3
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
R E C I P E F R O M T H E P A S T
Holiday Cake1
(Long ago recipes were sometimes written as verses)
To two pounds of flour well sifted uniteOf loaf-sugar ounces sixteenTwo pounds of fresh butter with eighteen fine eggsAnd four pounds of currants washed and cleanEight ounces of almonds well blanched and cut smallThe same weight of citron slicedOf orange and lemon-peel candied one poundAnd a gill of pale brandy un-icedA large nutmeg grated exact half an ounceOf allspice but only a quarterOf mace coriander and ginger well groundOr pounded to dust in a mortarAn important addition is cinnamon whichIs better increased than diminishedThe fourth of an ounce is sufficient Now thisMay be baked for good hours till finished
Makes about 24 lbs1 Godeys Ladys Book 1862
Thou wouldst be lovedmdashthen let thy heartFrom its present pathway part notBeing everything which now thou artBe nothing which thou art notSo with the world thy gentle waysThy grace thy more than beautyShall be an endless theme of praiseAnd love a simple duty
~ T o Frances S OsgoodEdgar Allan Poe
1845
Our summerheat is fastupon us Weare going totake anotherrun at
designing and building a shelterover the bull and bear This newdesign is to provide a simple coverover just the bull and the bear andwe are hopeful we can do this for areasonable cost If you have anyideas for this please contact Helenor me
Many of us are spending moretime at the archives Volunteersare continuing to catalog andorganize the items in the archivesas well as at the museum We aregetting used to our new softwareand have several issues to resolvebut we are beginning to get recordsinto the system We are writing aprocedure for handling this newsystem so it will be maintained and
backed up in an organizedmanner Most of our activity onthis takes place one morning eachweek so this is a slow process butwe are making progress
We continue to provide aid andadvice to the traveling public andto visitors interested in our areaWe recently hosted a Chamber ofCommerce mixer in support oftheir monthly meet and greet forour local merchants
Our membership drive is windingdown but we have an additionalmailing to go out for folks whohave not renewed theirmembership over the past fewyears As is mentioned in thisnewsletter we are not sending outthank you notices for new orrenewed members in order to savemoney If you want a membershipcard that can be provided at themuseum
Please check to see if you haveresponded to our request to renewyour membership Many of ouractive members have not sent intheir dues for the coming year
Thank you for your interest andparticipation in society projects andactivities If you have any ideashow we can be of service to thecommunity and our localbusinesses please let us knowContact Bonnie Wilson (530-878-6640 emailbonwallyhotmailcom) with yourideas for program presentations
All the best to you as we now dealwith heat and the threat of fire thissummer
Swend L MillerPresidentColfax Area Historical Society(530-346-6960)
T H E P R E S I D E N T rsquo S C O R N E R
Page 4 July 2014
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
day we had to fall in on the quarterdeck and go through the Swedishdrill exercises But after that 6weeks of hard work and training Icould eat most anything sleepanywhere and I was as strong asan oxSeveral of us left the ship at FortJefferson and went by rail to theNew York Navy Yard and we weregiven shore leave that night and itwas really the first I had I had notreceived any pay until just beforewe left the Ohio but when I set footin New York City for the first time Itried my best to see it all in onenight but soon found out that$100 would not go very far and Iwas soon broke againWe were not at the receiving shipover a day or so and on the 20thof August we were sent to the shipwhich I am still on The Good ShipMercury although at that time thename had not been changed and itwas still the BarbarossaI was there and got to watch themre-do the whole ship They had usscrubbing decks every day paint-ing and doing different things Thecrew didnt repair the engines ortear out the mahogany which wasall dumped out there in piles andjust hauled to the dump I guessThey took the staterooms all outand put bunks in them about 3bunks high on each sideFor a long time there was but asmall crew and we had lots of workto do in getting the ship cleaned upand repaired and ready to carrytroops About the latter part of De-cember she looked like a new shipinstead of a wreck as she had a fewmonths before We made two trialtrips the last one a 48 hour runand then for the first and last time Iwas very sea sick
The ship just went around in a bighuge circle several miles acrossWe were in sight of the Statue ofLiberty all the time But they madethis circle and it was rough seasand the ship was not only goingthis way but it was going that waytoo and oooh I got so seasickI was laying down in the middle ofthe deck In the officers mess roomThe guys came along and saidHey Eldridge dont you know thisis Captains inspection todayYoud better get up and get intouniform Oh I said I Just dontcare Boy you are going to getput in the brig I didnt careThe Captain came up where I wasand put his toe under my side andkind of moved it Sailor he saidstand up at attention dont youknow its Captains inspection Isaid I dont care what you do Iwish youd throw me overboard Iremember yet I could hear himlaughing and he said That boy isreally sick and he went onOn the 4th of January 1918 wewere loaded down with cargo andtroops and started on her first tripunder the U S Flag The weatherwas very bad and the sea veryrough Our first port in France wasSt Nazaire and we left January28th on our return trip We hadsuch awful storms that we stoppedfor two days at St Michaels Islandin the Azores There It was niceand warm and everything greenWe had plenty of oranges pineap-ples and all kinds of fruit just out ofthe fields After a six weeks trip wewere again in New YorkOn our second trip we went toBordeaux on our third trip toBrest our fourth to Bordeaux andour fifth to Brest again Of coursewe did not go to New York everytrip and then too we had manyexcitements and fights with the
subs and saw many wonderfulsights all of which are too numer-ous to mentionWas in Richmond Virginia the daythe truce was signed They surehad some time there Everybodywas so happy that they were al-most crazy The streets were socrowded with parades and peoplethat one could not get anywhereThe first thing we knew they start-ed a parade A flatbed truck cameup there and they were gatheringup all the servicemen so we got toride in the parade on this flatbedtruckI made fourteen round trips twen-ty-eight times across all on theUSS Mercury It took us about 11to 14 days to get across We madethe trip once in 9 days during thewar when a German submarinefollowed us back to New York TheCaptain was scared to death thatthe sub was going to sink us but wewere going back empty It didntwant our empty ship The sub satout of the New York harbor andwaited for loaded troop ships Atfirst subs were bad near Franceand England where the troopswere unloaded then they startedgoing to New York Harbor and afew ships sunk almost before theyhad gotten out of sight of land
This article like the previous article andthose to follow in future issues consists ofexcerpts some abridged from the bookldquolsquoThe Life and Times of H R Eldridgersquo astold to Myrtle Richards Tom Eldridge andCarolee Eldredgerdquo The article and much ofthe book are in the first-person as it isbased on a number of interviews the au-thors had with their fatherfather-in-lawHomer Eldridge Myrtle (Eldridge) Richards(Toms sister) typed (on a typewriter) com-posed and published the book Thanks toCAHS member Tom and to his wife Carol-ee for photos and notes concerning Hom-ers life and to Mickey Fletcher for lendingme her copy of the book
July 2014 Page 5
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
N E W M E M B E R S
W e l c o m e
B O A R D M E E T I N G S
October 11 2014
All Board Meetings are on Thursdays at10 am in the Depot
G E N E R A L M E E T I N G S
(To be announced)
USS Mercury originally the GermanPassenger Liner Barbarossa wasbriefly USS Barbarossa in 1917 Theship a 10984 gross ton troop trans-port was built at Hamburg Germa-ny in 1896 as the passenger linerBarbarossa For nearly two decadesshe served in commercial trade underthe flag of the North German Lloydfirm The Barbarossa was laid up atHoboken New Jersey in August1914 after the outbreak of WorldWar I She was seized there when theUnited States entered the conflict inApril 1917 The German crew hadblasted the engine cylinders so that
they couldnt be used It was a won-derful passenger ship with beautifulmahogany staterooms This was theship on which Kaiser Wilhelm madehis trip around the world
The ship was turned over to theNavy for repair and conversionand commissioned as USSBarbarossa in early August 1917Soon renamed Mercury and laterassigned the registry ID 3012she began carrying militarypersonnel to France a few daysafter the beginning of 1918 Theship made seven trips to France
with over 18000 passengers untilthe 11 November 1918 Armisticehalted the fighting Mercury thenbegan the process of bringingAmerican troops home She madeseven more trips for this purposecarrying over 20000 men
In September 1919 after her finaltrip USS Mercury was decom-missioned and transferred to theWar Department for use as anArmy transport The Army turnedher over to the US ShippingBoard in August 1920 Thoughsubsequently sold to a privateshipping firm her new ownersdefaulted and the ship came backto the Shipping Board in January1921 She was sold for scrap inFebruary 1924
The above article is from the Departmentof the Navy ndash Naval History and HeritageCommand
U S S B A R B A R O S S A U S S M E R C U R Y ( I D 3 0 1 2 )1 9 1 7 - 1 9 1 9
T H E C O B B L E S T O N E S I S L A T E
Dear Readers
As I am sure you realize you arereceiving this issue of the Cobble-stones over a month late The rea-son for this is that I had acatastrophic failure of my maincomputer
If anyone is interested the fan inthe power supply in my computerwas slowly failing and I didnrsquotrealize it Over a month ago the fanstopped and before I knew it andcould turn off the computer the
power supply failed and in sodoing it ldquofriedrdquo the mother boardwhich means the computer wasuseless
Usually when I get a new com-puter I buy a product such asLapLink which consists of somesoftware and a special cable thatruns from the old computer to thenew one This provides for the pro-grams and data on the old com-puter to be rapidly moved to andcorrectly installed on the new
computer
Since my old computer was dead Icouldnrsquot do that and had to comeup with a way to get everything offmy old disk drives onto the newcomputer I have finally accom-plished this and installed all neces-sary software on the newcomputer So I am finally back inbusiness
Thank you for your patience
The Editor
Page 6 July 2014
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
MEMORIAL GIVINGTO CAHS
Colfax Area Historical Societywelcomes gifts and memorials
in honor or in memory ofloved ones and friends Tomake a gift please include
your check with the form onthe right and mail to
Colfax Area Historical SocietyAttention
Memorials SecretaryP O Box 185
Colfax CA 95713-0185
M Y R T L E F I N D L A Y rsquo S9 5 t h
G i f t i n H o n o r o r i n M e m o r y
Of ____________________________________________
____________________________________________
By ____________________________________________
____________________________________________
Address _______________________________________
Email _________________________________________
Phone ________________________________________
Amount _______________________________________
Richard Wixon
Undedicated ldquo ldquo ldquo ldquo
Ken amp Mickey Fletcher amp Mavis WrightJay MacIntyreBeth MurphyRoger StaabHelen and Dick WaylandGold Country Lionesses
A N O T H E R L O S S F O R T H I S F A M I L YRichard PhillipWixon passedaway onThursday July17 2014 Hehad just returnedfrom his morningwalk He was 76
Richard wasborn March 1 1938 in SomervilleMA On July 6 1959 Richardmarried Carlotta Paul in Los GatosRichard joined the Coast Guard afterhigh school and worked for theCampbell Fire and PoliceDepartments He earned a BAdegree in Police Science
He enjoyed logging competitionsmotorcycles fishing and most of all
his family
Richard is survived by his wifeCarlotta son Donald Wixongrandsons SSergeant Patrick(Celeste) Wixon and Cody Sagangranddaughter Sarah Thompsonmother-in-law Gertude Paul andfour great grandchildren He waspreceded in death by his daughterSuzanne Sagan his grandson HeathSagan and parents Arthur and MaryWixon
A Service of Thanksgiving was heldat Peace Lutheran Church on FridayJuly 25
Our hearts go out to CarlottaDonald Gertrude and the rest of thefamily
Do you have any stories or photos youwould like to sharePlease email them to the editor atmelcouch57gmailcomSubject line Cobblestones
C A H S M E M B E R S H I P ndash J O I N U SObjectives
To support and promoteeducational and researchactivities and interest in thehistory of the Colfax area topromote and establish a localmuseum to work with otherHistorical Societies and localgroups to discover collect andmake accessible to the publichistorical facts and objects tomark places and buildings ofhistorical interest in the Colfaxarea and catalog such markersin an orderly manner to registerhistorical landmarks andbuildings to accept gifts anddonations from the public andother organizations and to raise
funds to accomplish all theabove
Meetings
General Meetings 4 yearLocations will be announced
Board of Directors 4yearLocated in the Depot at99 Railroad Avenue Colfax
Membership and Annual Dues
Regular (single) Member $2000
Family (including children) $2500
Junior (not included in Family) $ 500
Business (includes ad) $3500
Non-profit Organizations $3500
Additional contributions are always welcome
Dues apply to the fiscal year July 1 to June 30 and aretax-deductible Members receive quarterly issues of theColfax Cobblestones and a 10 discount at the GiftShop in the Museum If desired an annual membershipcard may be obtained at the Museum
Make checks payable to Colfax Area Historical SocietyPlease send check with your name address phoneemail address membership class and amount enclosedto CAHS PO Box 185 Colfax CA 95713 or go to theMuseum to sign up
S P R I N G amp S U M M E R M E E T I N G S
The Summer Meeting and IceCream Social was held onSaturday July 26 at 700 pm atthe Depot Our guest speaker wasdeputy sheriff Sgt Ty ConnersCommander of the Sheriffrsquos OfficeColfax Subsation He answered alot of questions from the attendees
We had an excellent turnouteither because of Sgt Connersbeing our guest speaker orbecause it was our annual Ice
Cream Social I believe the turnouthad a lot more to do with ourexcellent guest speaker
At our SpringMeeting onMay 17ChrisBierwagenspoke andshowed oldslides aboutthe history ofpear orchardsin Chicago Park
Sgt Ty Conners and hismother Sue
S U P P O R T O U R L O C A L B U S I N E S S A N D O R G A N I Z A T I O N M E M B E R S
American LegionColfax Post 192PO Box 311Colfax CA 95713
Teri Andrews-MurchRealtor wLyon Real Estate1900 Grass Valley HwySuite 100 AuburnDirect 530-798-0215tandrewsmurchgolyoncomwwwFoothillsHotPropertiescom
Colfax Dental Center120 Whitcomb AvenuePO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713346-6244
Colfax Elementary School DistrictPO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713530-346-6244
Colfax Garden ClubPO Box 1801Colfax CA 95713346-8561forgivenamicablewavecom
Kurtis H Fox MD IncPO Box 1199Colfax CA 95713346-2281
Grace Hubley Foundation24820 Ben Taylor RoadColfax CA 95713530-863-3698infogracehubleyfoundationorg
Pick-A-Flick VideoPO Box 29(6 N Main Street)Colfax Ca 95713530-346-8808
Placer County Historical SocietyPO Box 5643Auburn CA 95604
Sierra Business ServiceJames and Barbara Kelly520-D So Auburn StreetColfax CA 95713346-2455barbkellyfoothillnet
Sierra Vista Community CenterPO Box 88(55 School Street)Colfax530-346-8726
VFW Ladies AuxiliaryPost 2003PO Box 1213Colfax CA 95713(Pres) 636-4242
Page 2 July 2014
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
Editors Note When we last leftHomerrsquos story he was operating aphotographic studio in Mott NorthDakota
Excerpts from Homers WWINavy Diary
On May l4th 1917 I left home andwent to Miles City Montana whereI enlisted in the Navy as a Fireman3rd class I was then sent to SaltLake City where I was sworn in onthe 18th of Mayand at that place Isaw a sailor for the first timeI with many other boys was sentto Bremerton Washington fortraining but it was very little wegot for on June 2nd there wereabout 300 of us sent to the eastcoast I was to go on the USS Con-necticut I did not much care about
going for I knew I would be a longway from good old North DakotaBut we had a fine trip across theUS and I saw lots of beautifulsights the people treating us fineall along After a six day ride (dur-ing which they wouldnt even let usoff the train we stayed on thattrain same seat clear across theUnited States) we reached New-port News Virginia We were thentaken by boat to the Navy Yard atPortsmouth where we spent onenight and the next day all of uswere taken up to York River wherethe fleet was at that time It wassure a wonderful sight for most ofus who had never seen a battleshipbefore and here there were at least
25 or more anchored out in thestreamI was soon on my ship whichseemed very interesting and new Iwas only on the Connecticut abouta week when I got sick and wassent to the hospital ship Solaceand from there to the Navy hospi-tal at Portsmouth After two weeksI was again OK and was sent backto the Connecticut where I spentanother week and then I with sev-eral other boys was sent to theUSS Ohio for training I was on theOhio about 6 weeks During thattime we were out at sea most ofthe time and it sure was hard workdown in those old hot fire-roomsand then to top it off with twice a
H O M E R R E L D R I D G ET h e N a v y Y e a r s - W W I
Storekeeper 1st ClassHomer Russell EldridgeHe was born in Lafayette Indianaon January 28 1895 and prior toAmerica entering the First WorldWar Eldridge enlisted into the Unit-ed States Navy Prior to enlistmentEldridge was a photographer incivilian life He enlisted at MilesCity Montana and on May 191917 he reported aboard the Re-ceiving Ship at Puget SoundWashington
He served aboard the Puget SoundReceiving Ship until June 2 1917when he received his first assign-ment aboard a ship On that datehe was assigned to the battleshipUSS Connecticut then at NorfolkNavy Yard where he spent 18 daysuntil he became ill and was trans-ferred to the hospital ship USSSolace where he remained for 3days when he was sent to the Na-
val Hospital in Portsmouth Virgin-ia Once released from the hospitalhe returned to the USS Connecti-cut where he served until July 71917
After that he served on anotherbattleship the USS Ohio whichlasted until August 20 when he wassent to the Receiving Ship at theNew York Navy Yard There at theNew York Navy Yard he waiteduntil he was assigned to the USSMercury on August 31 1917 Hewould serve on the Mercurythrough the duration of the warWhile the Mercury was being fittedout and readied for sea Eldridgewas again in the hospital this timeat the New York Navy Yard afterhis release he returned to the Mer-cury
He spent his first 91 days in thenavy at the rank of Fireman 3rdClass and then was advanced toFireman 2nd Class still aboard the
Mercury Sometime after that hewas advanced to the rank of Store-keeper 1st Class Once the Mercu-ry was finished with her navyduties the US Navy crews weredischarged and she was eventuallyscraped Storekeeper 1st ClassHomer R Eldridge Service Num-ber 1403732 USN was HonorablyDischarged from the Navy at SaltLake City Utah on September 261919 He was awarded the WWIVictory Medal with a TransportClasp
Homer Russell Eldridge passedaway on October 14 1995 and isburied in section J in the ColfaxCemetery in Placer County Cali-fornia
The above article and the photos of theUSS Mercury on the cover and page 5 arefrom the Web book ldquoUSS Mercury WWITroopshiprdquo The article above is from theonly chapter in the book dedicated to anenlisted man below the rank of Chief PettyOfficer
July 2014 Page 3
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
R E C I P E F R O M T H E P A S T
Holiday Cake1
(Long ago recipes were sometimes written as verses)
To two pounds of flour well sifted uniteOf loaf-sugar ounces sixteenTwo pounds of fresh butter with eighteen fine eggsAnd four pounds of currants washed and cleanEight ounces of almonds well blanched and cut smallThe same weight of citron slicedOf orange and lemon-peel candied one poundAnd a gill of pale brandy un-icedA large nutmeg grated exact half an ounceOf allspice but only a quarterOf mace coriander and ginger well groundOr pounded to dust in a mortarAn important addition is cinnamon whichIs better increased than diminishedThe fourth of an ounce is sufficient Now thisMay be baked for good hours till finished
Makes about 24 lbs1 Godeys Ladys Book 1862
Thou wouldst be lovedmdashthen let thy heartFrom its present pathway part notBeing everything which now thou artBe nothing which thou art notSo with the world thy gentle waysThy grace thy more than beautyShall be an endless theme of praiseAnd love a simple duty
~ T o Frances S OsgoodEdgar Allan Poe
1845
Our summerheat is fastupon us Weare going totake anotherrun at
designing and building a shelterover the bull and bear This newdesign is to provide a simple coverover just the bull and the bear andwe are hopeful we can do this for areasonable cost If you have anyideas for this please contact Helenor me
Many of us are spending moretime at the archives Volunteersare continuing to catalog andorganize the items in the archivesas well as at the museum We aregetting used to our new softwareand have several issues to resolvebut we are beginning to get recordsinto the system We are writing aprocedure for handling this newsystem so it will be maintained and
backed up in an organizedmanner Most of our activity onthis takes place one morning eachweek so this is a slow process butwe are making progress
We continue to provide aid andadvice to the traveling public andto visitors interested in our areaWe recently hosted a Chamber ofCommerce mixer in support oftheir monthly meet and greet forour local merchants
Our membership drive is windingdown but we have an additionalmailing to go out for folks whohave not renewed theirmembership over the past fewyears As is mentioned in thisnewsletter we are not sending outthank you notices for new orrenewed members in order to savemoney If you want a membershipcard that can be provided at themuseum
Please check to see if you haveresponded to our request to renewyour membership Many of ouractive members have not sent intheir dues for the coming year
Thank you for your interest andparticipation in society projects andactivities If you have any ideashow we can be of service to thecommunity and our localbusinesses please let us knowContact Bonnie Wilson (530-878-6640 emailbonwallyhotmailcom) with yourideas for program presentations
All the best to you as we now dealwith heat and the threat of fire thissummer
Swend L MillerPresidentColfax Area Historical Society(530-346-6960)
T H E P R E S I D E N T rsquo S C O R N E R
Page 4 July 2014
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
day we had to fall in on the quarterdeck and go through the Swedishdrill exercises But after that 6weeks of hard work and training Icould eat most anything sleepanywhere and I was as strong asan oxSeveral of us left the ship at FortJefferson and went by rail to theNew York Navy Yard and we weregiven shore leave that night and itwas really the first I had I had notreceived any pay until just beforewe left the Ohio but when I set footin New York City for the first time Itried my best to see it all in onenight but soon found out that$100 would not go very far and Iwas soon broke againWe were not at the receiving shipover a day or so and on the 20thof August we were sent to the shipwhich I am still on The Good ShipMercury although at that time thename had not been changed and itwas still the BarbarossaI was there and got to watch themre-do the whole ship They had usscrubbing decks every day paint-ing and doing different things Thecrew didnt repair the engines ortear out the mahogany which wasall dumped out there in piles andjust hauled to the dump I guessThey took the staterooms all outand put bunks in them about 3bunks high on each sideFor a long time there was but asmall crew and we had lots of workto do in getting the ship cleaned upand repaired and ready to carrytroops About the latter part of De-cember she looked like a new shipinstead of a wreck as she had a fewmonths before We made two trialtrips the last one a 48 hour runand then for the first and last time Iwas very sea sick
The ship just went around in a bighuge circle several miles acrossWe were in sight of the Statue ofLiberty all the time But they madethis circle and it was rough seasand the ship was not only goingthis way but it was going that waytoo and oooh I got so seasickI was laying down in the middle ofthe deck In the officers mess roomThe guys came along and saidHey Eldridge dont you know thisis Captains inspection todayYoud better get up and get intouniform Oh I said I Just dontcare Boy you are going to getput in the brig I didnt careThe Captain came up where I wasand put his toe under my side andkind of moved it Sailor he saidstand up at attention dont youknow its Captains inspection Isaid I dont care what you do Iwish youd throw me overboard Iremember yet I could hear himlaughing and he said That boy isreally sick and he went onOn the 4th of January 1918 wewere loaded down with cargo andtroops and started on her first tripunder the U S Flag The weatherwas very bad and the sea veryrough Our first port in France wasSt Nazaire and we left January28th on our return trip We hadsuch awful storms that we stoppedfor two days at St Michaels Islandin the Azores There It was niceand warm and everything greenWe had plenty of oranges pineap-ples and all kinds of fruit just out ofthe fields After a six weeks trip wewere again in New YorkOn our second trip we went toBordeaux on our third trip toBrest our fourth to Bordeaux andour fifth to Brest again Of coursewe did not go to New York everytrip and then too we had manyexcitements and fights with the
subs and saw many wonderfulsights all of which are too numer-ous to mentionWas in Richmond Virginia the daythe truce was signed They surehad some time there Everybodywas so happy that they were al-most crazy The streets were socrowded with parades and peoplethat one could not get anywhereThe first thing we knew they start-ed a parade A flatbed truck cameup there and they were gatheringup all the servicemen so we got toride in the parade on this flatbedtruckI made fourteen round trips twen-ty-eight times across all on theUSS Mercury It took us about 11to 14 days to get across We madethe trip once in 9 days during thewar when a German submarinefollowed us back to New York TheCaptain was scared to death thatthe sub was going to sink us but wewere going back empty It didntwant our empty ship The sub satout of the New York harbor andwaited for loaded troop ships Atfirst subs were bad near Franceand England where the troopswere unloaded then they startedgoing to New York Harbor and afew ships sunk almost before theyhad gotten out of sight of land
This article like the previous article andthose to follow in future issues consists ofexcerpts some abridged from the bookldquolsquoThe Life and Times of H R Eldridgersquo astold to Myrtle Richards Tom Eldridge andCarolee Eldredgerdquo The article and much ofthe book are in the first-person as it isbased on a number of interviews the au-thors had with their fatherfather-in-lawHomer Eldridge Myrtle (Eldridge) Richards(Toms sister) typed (on a typewriter) com-posed and published the book Thanks toCAHS member Tom and to his wife Carol-ee for photos and notes concerning Hom-ers life and to Mickey Fletcher for lendingme her copy of the book
July 2014 Page 5
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
N E W M E M B E R S
W e l c o m e
B O A R D M E E T I N G S
October 11 2014
All Board Meetings are on Thursdays at10 am in the Depot
G E N E R A L M E E T I N G S
(To be announced)
USS Mercury originally the GermanPassenger Liner Barbarossa wasbriefly USS Barbarossa in 1917 Theship a 10984 gross ton troop trans-port was built at Hamburg Germa-ny in 1896 as the passenger linerBarbarossa For nearly two decadesshe served in commercial trade underthe flag of the North German Lloydfirm The Barbarossa was laid up atHoboken New Jersey in August1914 after the outbreak of WorldWar I She was seized there when theUnited States entered the conflict inApril 1917 The German crew hadblasted the engine cylinders so that
they couldnt be used It was a won-derful passenger ship with beautifulmahogany staterooms This was theship on which Kaiser Wilhelm madehis trip around the world
The ship was turned over to theNavy for repair and conversionand commissioned as USSBarbarossa in early August 1917Soon renamed Mercury and laterassigned the registry ID 3012she began carrying militarypersonnel to France a few daysafter the beginning of 1918 Theship made seven trips to France
with over 18000 passengers untilthe 11 November 1918 Armisticehalted the fighting Mercury thenbegan the process of bringingAmerican troops home She madeseven more trips for this purposecarrying over 20000 men
In September 1919 after her finaltrip USS Mercury was decom-missioned and transferred to theWar Department for use as anArmy transport The Army turnedher over to the US ShippingBoard in August 1920 Thoughsubsequently sold to a privateshipping firm her new ownersdefaulted and the ship came backto the Shipping Board in January1921 She was sold for scrap inFebruary 1924
The above article is from the Departmentof the Navy ndash Naval History and HeritageCommand
U S S B A R B A R O S S A U S S M E R C U R Y ( I D 3 0 1 2 )1 9 1 7 - 1 9 1 9
T H E C O B B L E S T O N E S I S L A T E
Dear Readers
As I am sure you realize you arereceiving this issue of the Cobble-stones over a month late The rea-son for this is that I had acatastrophic failure of my maincomputer
If anyone is interested the fan inthe power supply in my computerwas slowly failing and I didnrsquotrealize it Over a month ago the fanstopped and before I knew it andcould turn off the computer the
power supply failed and in sodoing it ldquofriedrdquo the mother boardwhich means the computer wasuseless
Usually when I get a new com-puter I buy a product such asLapLink which consists of somesoftware and a special cable thatruns from the old computer to thenew one This provides for the pro-grams and data on the old com-puter to be rapidly moved to andcorrectly installed on the new
computer
Since my old computer was dead Icouldnrsquot do that and had to comeup with a way to get everything offmy old disk drives onto the newcomputer I have finally accom-plished this and installed all neces-sary software on the newcomputer So I am finally back inbusiness
Thank you for your patience
The Editor
Page 6 July 2014
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
MEMORIAL GIVINGTO CAHS
Colfax Area Historical Societywelcomes gifts and memorials
in honor or in memory ofloved ones and friends Tomake a gift please include
your check with the form onthe right and mail to
Colfax Area Historical SocietyAttention
Memorials SecretaryP O Box 185
Colfax CA 95713-0185
M Y R T L E F I N D L A Y rsquo S9 5 t h
G i f t i n H o n o r o r i n M e m o r y
Of ____________________________________________
____________________________________________
By ____________________________________________
____________________________________________
Address _______________________________________
Email _________________________________________
Phone ________________________________________
Amount _______________________________________
Richard Wixon
Undedicated ldquo ldquo ldquo ldquo
Ken amp Mickey Fletcher amp Mavis WrightJay MacIntyreBeth MurphyRoger StaabHelen and Dick WaylandGold Country Lionesses
A N O T H E R L O S S F O R T H I S F A M I L YRichard PhillipWixon passedaway onThursday July17 2014 Hehad just returnedfrom his morningwalk He was 76
Richard wasborn March 1 1938 in SomervilleMA On July 6 1959 Richardmarried Carlotta Paul in Los GatosRichard joined the Coast Guard afterhigh school and worked for theCampbell Fire and PoliceDepartments He earned a BAdegree in Police Science
He enjoyed logging competitionsmotorcycles fishing and most of all
his family
Richard is survived by his wifeCarlotta son Donald Wixongrandsons SSergeant Patrick(Celeste) Wixon and Cody Sagangranddaughter Sarah Thompsonmother-in-law Gertude Paul andfour great grandchildren He waspreceded in death by his daughterSuzanne Sagan his grandson HeathSagan and parents Arthur and MaryWixon
A Service of Thanksgiving was heldat Peace Lutheran Church on FridayJuly 25
Our hearts go out to CarlottaDonald Gertrude and the rest of thefamily
Do you have any stories or photos youwould like to sharePlease email them to the editor atmelcouch57gmailcomSubject line Cobblestones
C A H S M E M B E R S H I P ndash J O I N U SObjectives
To support and promoteeducational and researchactivities and interest in thehistory of the Colfax area topromote and establish a localmuseum to work with otherHistorical Societies and localgroups to discover collect andmake accessible to the publichistorical facts and objects tomark places and buildings ofhistorical interest in the Colfaxarea and catalog such markersin an orderly manner to registerhistorical landmarks andbuildings to accept gifts anddonations from the public andother organizations and to raise
funds to accomplish all theabove
Meetings
General Meetings 4 yearLocations will be announced
Board of Directors 4yearLocated in the Depot at99 Railroad Avenue Colfax
Membership and Annual Dues
Regular (single) Member $2000
Family (including children) $2500
Junior (not included in Family) $ 500
Business (includes ad) $3500
Non-profit Organizations $3500
Additional contributions are always welcome
Dues apply to the fiscal year July 1 to June 30 and aretax-deductible Members receive quarterly issues of theColfax Cobblestones and a 10 discount at the GiftShop in the Museum If desired an annual membershipcard may be obtained at the Museum
Make checks payable to Colfax Area Historical SocietyPlease send check with your name address phoneemail address membership class and amount enclosedto CAHS PO Box 185 Colfax CA 95713 or go to theMuseum to sign up
S P R I N G amp S U M M E R M E E T I N G S
The Summer Meeting and IceCream Social was held onSaturday July 26 at 700 pm atthe Depot Our guest speaker wasdeputy sheriff Sgt Ty ConnersCommander of the Sheriffrsquos OfficeColfax Subsation He answered alot of questions from the attendees
We had an excellent turnouteither because of Sgt Connersbeing our guest speaker orbecause it was our annual Ice
Cream Social I believe the turnouthad a lot more to do with ourexcellent guest speaker
At our SpringMeeting onMay 17ChrisBierwagenspoke andshowed oldslides aboutthe history ofpear orchardsin Chicago Park
Sgt Ty Conners and hismother Sue
S U P P O R T O U R L O C A L B U S I N E S S A N D O R G A N I Z A T I O N M E M B E R S
American LegionColfax Post 192PO Box 311Colfax CA 95713
Teri Andrews-MurchRealtor wLyon Real Estate1900 Grass Valley HwySuite 100 AuburnDirect 530-798-0215tandrewsmurchgolyoncomwwwFoothillsHotPropertiescom
Colfax Dental Center120 Whitcomb AvenuePO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713346-6244
Colfax Elementary School DistrictPO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713530-346-6244
Colfax Garden ClubPO Box 1801Colfax CA 95713346-8561forgivenamicablewavecom
Kurtis H Fox MD IncPO Box 1199Colfax CA 95713346-2281
Grace Hubley Foundation24820 Ben Taylor RoadColfax CA 95713530-863-3698infogracehubleyfoundationorg
Pick-A-Flick VideoPO Box 29(6 N Main Street)Colfax Ca 95713530-346-8808
Placer County Historical SocietyPO Box 5643Auburn CA 95604
Sierra Business ServiceJames and Barbara Kelly520-D So Auburn StreetColfax CA 95713346-2455barbkellyfoothillnet
Sierra Vista Community CenterPO Box 88(55 School Street)Colfax530-346-8726
VFW Ladies AuxiliaryPost 2003PO Box 1213Colfax CA 95713(Pres) 636-4242
July 2014 Page 3
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
R E C I P E F R O M T H E P A S T
Holiday Cake1
(Long ago recipes were sometimes written as verses)
To two pounds of flour well sifted uniteOf loaf-sugar ounces sixteenTwo pounds of fresh butter with eighteen fine eggsAnd four pounds of currants washed and cleanEight ounces of almonds well blanched and cut smallThe same weight of citron slicedOf orange and lemon-peel candied one poundAnd a gill of pale brandy un-icedA large nutmeg grated exact half an ounceOf allspice but only a quarterOf mace coriander and ginger well groundOr pounded to dust in a mortarAn important addition is cinnamon whichIs better increased than diminishedThe fourth of an ounce is sufficient Now thisMay be baked for good hours till finished
Makes about 24 lbs1 Godeys Ladys Book 1862
Thou wouldst be lovedmdashthen let thy heartFrom its present pathway part notBeing everything which now thou artBe nothing which thou art notSo with the world thy gentle waysThy grace thy more than beautyShall be an endless theme of praiseAnd love a simple duty
~ T o Frances S OsgoodEdgar Allan Poe
1845
Our summerheat is fastupon us Weare going totake anotherrun at
designing and building a shelterover the bull and bear This newdesign is to provide a simple coverover just the bull and the bear andwe are hopeful we can do this for areasonable cost If you have anyideas for this please contact Helenor me
Many of us are spending moretime at the archives Volunteersare continuing to catalog andorganize the items in the archivesas well as at the museum We aregetting used to our new softwareand have several issues to resolvebut we are beginning to get recordsinto the system We are writing aprocedure for handling this newsystem so it will be maintained and
backed up in an organizedmanner Most of our activity onthis takes place one morning eachweek so this is a slow process butwe are making progress
We continue to provide aid andadvice to the traveling public andto visitors interested in our areaWe recently hosted a Chamber ofCommerce mixer in support oftheir monthly meet and greet forour local merchants
Our membership drive is windingdown but we have an additionalmailing to go out for folks whohave not renewed theirmembership over the past fewyears As is mentioned in thisnewsletter we are not sending outthank you notices for new orrenewed members in order to savemoney If you want a membershipcard that can be provided at themuseum
Please check to see if you haveresponded to our request to renewyour membership Many of ouractive members have not sent intheir dues for the coming year
Thank you for your interest andparticipation in society projects andactivities If you have any ideashow we can be of service to thecommunity and our localbusinesses please let us knowContact Bonnie Wilson (530-878-6640 emailbonwallyhotmailcom) with yourideas for program presentations
All the best to you as we now dealwith heat and the threat of fire thissummer
Swend L MillerPresidentColfax Area Historical Society(530-346-6960)
T H E P R E S I D E N T rsquo S C O R N E R
Page 4 July 2014
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
day we had to fall in on the quarterdeck and go through the Swedishdrill exercises But after that 6weeks of hard work and training Icould eat most anything sleepanywhere and I was as strong asan oxSeveral of us left the ship at FortJefferson and went by rail to theNew York Navy Yard and we weregiven shore leave that night and itwas really the first I had I had notreceived any pay until just beforewe left the Ohio but when I set footin New York City for the first time Itried my best to see it all in onenight but soon found out that$100 would not go very far and Iwas soon broke againWe were not at the receiving shipover a day or so and on the 20thof August we were sent to the shipwhich I am still on The Good ShipMercury although at that time thename had not been changed and itwas still the BarbarossaI was there and got to watch themre-do the whole ship They had usscrubbing decks every day paint-ing and doing different things Thecrew didnt repair the engines ortear out the mahogany which wasall dumped out there in piles andjust hauled to the dump I guessThey took the staterooms all outand put bunks in them about 3bunks high on each sideFor a long time there was but asmall crew and we had lots of workto do in getting the ship cleaned upand repaired and ready to carrytroops About the latter part of De-cember she looked like a new shipinstead of a wreck as she had a fewmonths before We made two trialtrips the last one a 48 hour runand then for the first and last time Iwas very sea sick
The ship just went around in a bighuge circle several miles acrossWe were in sight of the Statue ofLiberty all the time But they madethis circle and it was rough seasand the ship was not only goingthis way but it was going that waytoo and oooh I got so seasickI was laying down in the middle ofthe deck In the officers mess roomThe guys came along and saidHey Eldridge dont you know thisis Captains inspection todayYoud better get up and get intouniform Oh I said I Just dontcare Boy you are going to getput in the brig I didnt careThe Captain came up where I wasand put his toe under my side andkind of moved it Sailor he saidstand up at attention dont youknow its Captains inspection Isaid I dont care what you do Iwish youd throw me overboard Iremember yet I could hear himlaughing and he said That boy isreally sick and he went onOn the 4th of January 1918 wewere loaded down with cargo andtroops and started on her first tripunder the U S Flag The weatherwas very bad and the sea veryrough Our first port in France wasSt Nazaire and we left January28th on our return trip We hadsuch awful storms that we stoppedfor two days at St Michaels Islandin the Azores There It was niceand warm and everything greenWe had plenty of oranges pineap-ples and all kinds of fruit just out ofthe fields After a six weeks trip wewere again in New YorkOn our second trip we went toBordeaux on our third trip toBrest our fourth to Bordeaux andour fifth to Brest again Of coursewe did not go to New York everytrip and then too we had manyexcitements and fights with the
subs and saw many wonderfulsights all of which are too numer-ous to mentionWas in Richmond Virginia the daythe truce was signed They surehad some time there Everybodywas so happy that they were al-most crazy The streets were socrowded with parades and peoplethat one could not get anywhereThe first thing we knew they start-ed a parade A flatbed truck cameup there and they were gatheringup all the servicemen so we got toride in the parade on this flatbedtruckI made fourteen round trips twen-ty-eight times across all on theUSS Mercury It took us about 11to 14 days to get across We madethe trip once in 9 days during thewar when a German submarinefollowed us back to New York TheCaptain was scared to death thatthe sub was going to sink us but wewere going back empty It didntwant our empty ship The sub satout of the New York harbor andwaited for loaded troop ships Atfirst subs were bad near Franceand England where the troopswere unloaded then they startedgoing to New York Harbor and afew ships sunk almost before theyhad gotten out of sight of land
This article like the previous article andthose to follow in future issues consists ofexcerpts some abridged from the bookldquolsquoThe Life and Times of H R Eldridgersquo astold to Myrtle Richards Tom Eldridge andCarolee Eldredgerdquo The article and much ofthe book are in the first-person as it isbased on a number of interviews the au-thors had with their fatherfather-in-lawHomer Eldridge Myrtle (Eldridge) Richards(Toms sister) typed (on a typewriter) com-posed and published the book Thanks toCAHS member Tom and to his wife Carol-ee for photos and notes concerning Hom-ers life and to Mickey Fletcher for lendingme her copy of the book
July 2014 Page 5
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
N E W M E M B E R S
W e l c o m e
B O A R D M E E T I N G S
October 11 2014
All Board Meetings are on Thursdays at10 am in the Depot
G E N E R A L M E E T I N G S
(To be announced)
USS Mercury originally the GermanPassenger Liner Barbarossa wasbriefly USS Barbarossa in 1917 Theship a 10984 gross ton troop trans-port was built at Hamburg Germa-ny in 1896 as the passenger linerBarbarossa For nearly two decadesshe served in commercial trade underthe flag of the North German Lloydfirm The Barbarossa was laid up atHoboken New Jersey in August1914 after the outbreak of WorldWar I She was seized there when theUnited States entered the conflict inApril 1917 The German crew hadblasted the engine cylinders so that
they couldnt be used It was a won-derful passenger ship with beautifulmahogany staterooms This was theship on which Kaiser Wilhelm madehis trip around the world
The ship was turned over to theNavy for repair and conversionand commissioned as USSBarbarossa in early August 1917Soon renamed Mercury and laterassigned the registry ID 3012she began carrying militarypersonnel to France a few daysafter the beginning of 1918 Theship made seven trips to France
with over 18000 passengers untilthe 11 November 1918 Armisticehalted the fighting Mercury thenbegan the process of bringingAmerican troops home She madeseven more trips for this purposecarrying over 20000 men
In September 1919 after her finaltrip USS Mercury was decom-missioned and transferred to theWar Department for use as anArmy transport The Army turnedher over to the US ShippingBoard in August 1920 Thoughsubsequently sold to a privateshipping firm her new ownersdefaulted and the ship came backto the Shipping Board in January1921 She was sold for scrap inFebruary 1924
The above article is from the Departmentof the Navy ndash Naval History and HeritageCommand
U S S B A R B A R O S S A U S S M E R C U R Y ( I D 3 0 1 2 )1 9 1 7 - 1 9 1 9
T H E C O B B L E S T O N E S I S L A T E
Dear Readers
As I am sure you realize you arereceiving this issue of the Cobble-stones over a month late The rea-son for this is that I had acatastrophic failure of my maincomputer
If anyone is interested the fan inthe power supply in my computerwas slowly failing and I didnrsquotrealize it Over a month ago the fanstopped and before I knew it andcould turn off the computer the
power supply failed and in sodoing it ldquofriedrdquo the mother boardwhich means the computer wasuseless
Usually when I get a new com-puter I buy a product such asLapLink which consists of somesoftware and a special cable thatruns from the old computer to thenew one This provides for the pro-grams and data on the old com-puter to be rapidly moved to andcorrectly installed on the new
computer
Since my old computer was dead Icouldnrsquot do that and had to comeup with a way to get everything offmy old disk drives onto the newcomputer I have finally accom-plished this and installed all neces-sary software on the newcomputer So I am finally back inbusiness
Thank you for your patience
The Editor
Page 6 July 2014
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
MEMORIAL GIVINGTO CAHS
Colfax Area Historical Societywelcomes gifts and memorials
in honor or in memory ofloved ones and friends Tomake a gift please include
your check with the form onthe right and mail to
Colfax Area Historical SocietyAttention
Memorials SecretaryP O Box 185
Colfax CA 95713-0185
M Y R T L E F I N D L A Y rsquo S9 5 t h
G i f t i n H o n o r o r i n M e m o r y
Of ____________________________________________
____________________________________________
By ____________________________________________
____________________________________________
Address _______________________________________
Email _________________________________________
Phone ________________________________________
Amount _______________________________________
Richard Wixon
Undedicated ldquo ldquo ldquo ldquo
Ken amp Mickey Fletcher amp Mavis WrightJay MacIntyreBeth MurphyRoger StaabHelen and Dick WaylandGold Country Lionesses
A N O T H E R L O S S F O R T H I S F A M I L YRichard PhillipWixon passedaway onThursday July17 2014 Hehad just returnedfrom his morningwalk He was 76
Richard wasborn March 1 1938 in SomervilleMA On July 6 1959 Richardmarried Carlotta Paul in Los GatosRichard joined the Coast Guard afterhigh school and worked for theCampbell Fire and PoliceDepartments He earned a BAdegree in Police Science
He enjoyed logging competitionsmotorcycles fishing and most of all
his family
Richard is survived by his wifeCarlotta son Donald Wixongrandsons SSergeant Patrick(Celeste) Wixon and Cody Sagangranddaughter Sarah Thompsonmother-in-law Gertude Paul andfour great grandchildren He waspreceded in death by his daughterSuzanne Sagan his grandson HeathSagan and parents Arthur and MaryWixon
A Service of Thanksgiving was heldat Peace Lutheran Church on FridayJuly 25
Our hearts go out to CarlottaDonald Gertrude and the rest of thefamily
Do you have any stories or photos youwould like to sharePlease email them to the editor atmelcouch57gmailcomSubject line Cobblestones
C A H S M E M B E R S H I P ndash J O I N U SObjectives
To support and promoteeducational and researchactivities and interest in thehistory of the Colfax area topromote and establish a localmuseum to work with otherHistorical Societies and localgroups to discover collect andmake accessible to the publichistorical facts and objects tomark places and buildings ofhistorical interest in the Colfaxarea and catalog such markersin an orderly manner to registerhistorical landmarks andbuildings to accept gifts anddonations from the public andother organizations and to raise
funds to accomplish all theabove
Meetings
General Meetings 4 yearLocations will be announced
Board of Directors 4yearLocated in the Depot at99 Railroad Avenue Colfax
Membership and Annual Dues
Regular (single) Member $2000
Family (including children) $2500
Junior (not included in Family) $ 500
Business (includes ad) $3500
Non-profit Organizations $3500
Additional contributions are always welcome
Dues apply to the fiscal year July 1 to June 30 and aretax-deductible Members receive quarterly issues of theColfax Cobblestones and a 10 discount at the GiftShop in the Museum If desired an annual membershipcard may be obtained at the Museum
Make checks payable to Colfax Area Historical SocietyPlease send check with your name address phoneemail address membership class and amount enclosedto CAHS PO Box 185 Colfax CA 95713 or go to theMuseum to sign up
S P R I N G amp S U M M E R M E E T I N G S
The Summer Meeting and IceCream Social was held onSaturday July 26 at 700 pm atthe Depot Our guest speaker wasdeputy sheriff Sgt Ty ConnersCommander of the Sheriffrsquos OfficeColfax Subsation He answered alot of questions from the attendees
We had an excellent turnouteither because of Sgt Connersbeing our guest speaker orbecause it was our annual Ice
Cream Social I believe the turnouthad a lot more to do with ourexcellent guest speaker
At our SpringMeeting onMay 17ChrisBierwagenspoke andshowed oldslides aboutthe history ofpear orchardsin Chicago Park
Sgt Ty Conners and hismother Sue
S U P P O R T O U R L O C A L B U S I N E S S A N D O R G A N I Z A T I O N M E M B E R S
American LegionColfax Post 192PO Box 311Colfax CA 95713
Teri Andrews-MurchRealtor wLyon Real Estate1900 Grass Valley HwySuite 100 AuburnDirect 530-798-0215tandrewsmurchgolyoncomwwwFoothillsHotPropertiescom
Colfax Dental Center120 Whitcomb AvenuePO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713346-6244
Colfax Elementary School DistrictPO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713530-346-6244
Colfax Garden ClubPO Box 1801Colfax CA 95713346-8561forgivenamicablewavecom
Kurtis H Fox MD IncPO Box 1199Colfax CA 95713346-2281
Grace Hubley Foundation24820 Ben Taylor RoadColfax CA 95713530-863-3698infogracehubleyfoundationorg
Pick-A-Flick VideoPO Box 29(6 N Main Street)Colfax Ca 95713530-346-8808
Placer County Historical SocietyPO Box 5643Auburn CA 95604
Sierra Business ServiceJames and Barbara Kelly520-D So Auburn StreetColfax CA 95713346-2455barbkellyfoothillnet
Sierra Vista Community CenterPO Box 88(55 School Street)Colfax530-346-8726
VFW Ladies AuxiliaryPost 2003PO Box 1213Colfax CA 95713(Pres) 636-4242
Page 4 July 2014
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
day we had to fall in on the quarterdeck and go through the Swedishdrill exercises But after that 6weeks of hard work and training Icould eat most anything sleepanywhere and I was as strong asan oxSeveral of us left the ship at FortJefferson and went by rail to theNew York Navy Yard and we weregiven shore leave that night and itwas really the first I had I had notreceived any pay until just beforewe left the Ohio but when I set footin New York City for the first time Itried my best to see it all in onenight but soon found out that$100 would not go very far and Iwas soon broke againWe were not at the receiving shipover a day or so and on the 20thof August we were sent to the shipwhich I am still on The Good ShipMercury although at that time thename had not been changed and itwas still the BarbarossaI was there and got to watch themre-do the whole ship They had usscrubbing decks every day paint-ing and doing different things Thecrew didnt repair the engines ortear out the mahogany which wasall dumped out there in piles andjust hauled to the dump I guessThey took the staterooms all outand put bunks in them about 3bunks high on each sideFor a long time there was but asmall crew and we had lots of workto do in getting the ship cleaned upand repaired and ready to carrytroops About the latter part of De-cember she looked like a new shipinstead of a wreck as she had a fewmonths before We made two trialtrips the last one a 48 hour runand then for the first and last time Iwas very sea sick
The ship just went around in a bighuge circle several miles acrossWe were in sight of the Statue ofLiberty all the time But they madethis circle and it was rough seasand the ship was not only goingthis way but it was going that waytoo and oooh I got so seasickI was laying down in the middle ofthe deck In the officers mess roomThe guys came along and saidHey Eldridge dont you know thisis Captains inspection todayYoud better get up and get intouniform Oh I said I Just dontcare Boy you are going to getput in the brig I didnt careThe Captain came up where I wasand put his toe under my side andkind of moved it Sailor he saidstand up at attention dont youknow its Captains inspection Isaid I dont care what you do Iwish youd throw me overboard Iremember yet I could hear himlaughing and he said That boy isreally sick and he went onOn the 4th of January 1918 wewere loaded down with cargo andtroops and started on her first tripunder the U S Flag The weatherwas very bad and the sea veryrough Our first port in France wasSt Nazaire and we left January28th on our return trip We hadsuch awful storms that we stoppedfor two days at St Michaels Islandin the Azores There It was niceand warm and everything greenWe had plenty of oranges pineap-ples and all kinds of fruit just out ofthe fields After a six weeks trip wewere again in New YorkOn our second trip we went toBordeaux on our third trip toBrest our fourth to Bordeaux andour fifth to Brest again Of coursewe did not go to New York everytrip and then too we had manyexcitements and fights with the
subs and saw many wonderfulsights all of which are too numer-ous to mentionWas in Richmond Virginia the daythe truce was signed They surehad some time there Everybodywas so happy that they were al-most crazy The streets were socrowded with parades and peoplethat one could not get anywhereThe first thing we knew they start-ed a parade A flatbed truck cameup there and they were gatheringup all the servicemen so we got toride in the parade on this flatbedtruckI made fourteen round trips twen-ty-eight times across all on theUSS Mercury It took us about 11to 14 days to get across We madethe trip once in 9 days during thewar when a German submarinefollowed us back to New York TheCaptain was scared to death thatthe sub was going to sink us but wewere going back empty It didntwant our empty ship The sub satout of the New York harbor andwaited for loaded troop ships Atfirst subs were bad near Franceand England where the troopswere unloaded then they startedgoing to New York Harbor and afew ships sunk almost before theyhad gotten out of sight of land
This article like the previous article andthose to follow in future issues consists ofexcerpts some abridged from the bookldquolsquoThe Life and Times of H R Eldridgersquo astold to Myrtle Richards Tom Eldridge andCarolee Eldredgerdquo The article and much ofthe book are in the first-person as it isbased on a number of interviews the au-thors had with their fatherfather-in-lawHomer Eldridge Myrtle (Eldridge) Richards(Toms sister) typed (on a typewriter) com-posed and published the book Thanks toCAHS member Tom and to his wife Carol-ee for photos and notes concerning Hom-ers life and to Mickey Fletcher for lendingme her copy of the book
July 2014 Page 5
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
N E W M E M B E R S
W e l c o m e
B O A R D M E E T I N G S
October 11 2014
All Board Meetings are on Thursdays at10 am in the Depot
G E N E R A L M E E T I N G S
(To be announced)
USS Mercury originally the GermanPassenger Liner Barbarossa wasbriefly USS Barbarossa in 1917 Theship a 10984 gross ton troop trans-port was built at Hamburg Germa-ny in 1896 as the passenger linerBarbarossa For nearly two decadesshe served in commercial trade underthe flag of the North German Lloydfirm The Barbarossa was laid up atHoboken New Jersey in August1914 after the outbreak of WorldWar I She was seized there when theUnited States entered the conflict inApril 1917 The German crew hadblasted the engine cylinders so that
they couldnt be used It was a won-derful passenger ship with beautifulmahogany staterooms This was theship on which Kaiser Wilhelm madehis trip around the world
The ship was turned over to theNavy for repair and conversionand commissioned as USSBarbarossa in early August 1917Soon renamed Mercury and laterassigned the registry ID 3012she began carrying militarypersonnel to France a few daysafter the beginning of 1918 Theship made seven trips to France
with over 18000 passengers untilthe 11 November 1918 Armisticehalted the fighting Mercury thenbegan the process of bringingAmerican troops home She madeseven more trips for this purposecarrying over 20000 men
In September 1919 after her finaltrip USS Mercury was decom-missioned and transferred to theWar Department for use as anArmy transport The Army turnedher over to the US ShippingBoard in August 1920 Thoughsubsequently sold to a privateshipping firm her new ownersdefaulted and the ship came backto the Shipping Board in January1921 She was sold for scrap inFebruary 1924
The above article is from the Departmentof the Navy ndash Naval History and HeritageCommand
U S S B A R B A R O S S A U S S M E R C U R Y ( I D 3 0 1 2 )1 9 1 7 - 1 9 1 9
T H E C O B B L E S T O N E S I S L A T E
Dear Readers
As I am sure you realize you arereceiving this issue of the Cobble-stones over a month late The rea-son for this is that I had acatastrophic failure of my maincomputer
If anyone is interested the fan inthe power supply in my computerwas slowly failing and I didnrsquotrealize it Over a month ago the fanstopped and before I knew it andcould turn off the computer the
power supply failed and in sodoing it ldquofriedrdquo the mother boardwhich means the computer wasuseless
Usually when I get a new com-puter I buy a product such asLapLink which consists of somesoftware and a special cable thatruns from the old computer to thenew one This provides for the pro-grams and data on the old com-puter to be rapidly moved to andcorrectly installed on the new
computer
Since my old computer was dead Icouldnrsquot do that and had to comeup with a way to get everything offmy old disk drives onto the newcomputer I have finally accom-plished this and installed all neces-sary software on the newcomputer So I am finally back inbusiness
Thank you for your patience
The Editor
Page 6 July 2014
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
MEMORIAL GIVINGTO CAHS
Colfax Area Historical Societywelcomes gifts and memorials
in honor or in memory ofloved ones and friends Tomake a gift please include
your check with the form onthe right and mail to
Colfax Area Historical SocietyAttention
Memorials SecretaryP O Box 185
Colfax CA 95713-0185
M Y R T L E F I N D L A Y rsquo S9 5 t h
G i f t i n H o n o r o r i n M e m o r y
Of ____________________________________________
____________________________________________
By ____________________________________________
____________________________________________
Address _______________________________________
Email _________________________________________
Phone ________________________________________
Amount _______________________________________
Richard Wixon
Undedicated ldquo ldquo ldquo ldquo
Ken amp Mickey Fletcher amp Mavis WrightJay MacIntyreBeth MurphyRoger StaabHelen and Dick WaylandGold Country Lionesses
A N O T H E R L O S S F O R T H I S F A M I L YRichard PhillipWixon passedaway onThursday July17 2014 Hehad just returnedfrom his morningwalk He was 76
Richard wasborn March 1 1938 in SomervilleMA On July 6 1959 Richardmarried Carlotta Paul in Los GatosRichard joined the Coast Guard afterhigh school and worked for theCampbell Fire and PoliceDepartments He earned a BAdegree in Police Science
He enjoyed logging competitionsmotorcycles fishing and most of all
his family
Richard is survived by his wifeCarlotta son Donald Wixongrandsons SSergeant Patrick(Celeste) Wixon and Cody Sagangranddaughter Sarah Thompsonmother-in-law Gertude Paul andfour great grandchildren He waspreceded in death by his daughterSuzanne Sagan his grandson HeathSagan and parents Arthur and MaryWixon
A Service of Thanksgiving was heldat Peace Lutheran Church on FridayJuly 25
Our hearts go out to CarlottaDonald Gertrude and the rest of thefamily
Do you have any stories or photos youwould like to sharePlease email them to the editor atmelcouch57gmailcomSubject line Cobblestones
C A H S M E M B E R S H I P ndash J O I N U SObjectives
To support and promoteeducational and researchactivities and interest in thehistory of the Colfax area topromote and establish a localmuseum to work with otherHistorical Societies and localgroups to discover collect andmake accessible to the publichistorical facts and objects tomark places and buildings ofhistorical interest in the Colfaxarea and catalog such markersin an orderly manner to registerhistorical landmarks andbuildings to accept gifts anddonations from the public andother organizations and to raise
funds to accomplish all theabove
Meetings
General Meetings 4 yearLocations will be announced
Board of Directors 4yearLocated in the Depot at99 Railroad Avenue Colfax
Membership and Annual Dues
Regular (single) Member $2000
Family (including children) $2500
Junior (not included in Family) $ 500
Business (includes ad) $3500
Non-profit Organizations $3500
Additional contributions are always welcome
Dues apply to the fiscal year July 1 to June 30 and aretax-deductible Members receive quarterly issues of theColfax Cobblestones and a 10 discount at the GiftShop in the Museum If desired an annual membershipcard may be obtained at the Museum
Make checks payable to Colfax Area Historical SocietyPlease send check with your name address phoneemail address membership class and amount enclosedto CAHS PO Box 185 Colfax CA 95713 or go to theMuseum to sign up
S P R I N G amp S U M M E R M E E T I N G S
The Summer Meeting and IceCream Social was held onSaturday July 26 at 700 pm atthe Depot Our guest speaker wasdeputy sheriff Sgt Ty ConnersCommander of the Sheriffrsquos OfficeColfax Subsation He answered alot of questions from the attendees
We had an excellent turnouteither because of Sgt Connersbeing our guest speaker orbecause it was our annual Ice
Cream Social I believe the turnouthad a lot more to do with ourexcellent guest speaker
At our SpringMeeting onMay 17ChrisBierwagenspoke andshowed oldslides aboutthe history ofpear orchardsin Chicago Park
Sgt Ty Conners and hismother Sue
S U P P O R T O U R L O C A L B U S I N E S S A N D O R G A N I Z A T I O N M E M B E R S
American LegionColfax Post 192PO Box 311Colfax CA 95713
Teri Andrews-MurchRealtor wLyon Real Estate1900 Grass Valley HwySuite 100 AuburnDirect 530-798-0215tandrewsmurchgolyoncomwwwFoothillsHotPropertiescom
Colfax Dental Center120 Whitcomb AvenuePO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713346-6244
Colfax Elementary School DistrictPO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713530-346-6244
Colfax Garden ClubPO Box 1801Colfax CA 95713346-8561forgivenamicablewavecom
Kurtis H Fox MD IncPO Box 1199Colfax CA 95713346-2281
Grace Hubley Foundation24820 Ben Taylor RoadColfax CA 95713530-863-3698infogracehubleyfoundationorg
Pick-A-Flick VideoPO Box 29(6 N Main Street)Colfax Ca 95713530-346-8808
Placer County Historical SocietyPO Box 5643Auburn CA 95604
Sierra Business ServiceJames and Barbara Kelly520-D So Auburn StreetColfax CA 95713346-2455barbkellyfoothillnet
Sierra Vista Community CenterPO Box 88(55 School Street)Colfax530-346-8726
VFW Ladies AuxiliaryPost 2003PO Box 1213Colfax CA 95713(Pres) 636-4242
July 2014 Page 5
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
N E W M E M B E R S
W e l c o m e
B O A R D M E E T I N G S
October 11 2014
All Board Meetings are on Thursdays at10 am in the Depot
G E N E R A L M E E T I N G S
(To be announced)
USS Mercury originally the GermanPassenger Liner Barbarossa wasbriefly USS Barbarossa in 1917 Theship a 10984 gross ton troop trans-port was built at Hamburg Germa-ny in 1896 as the passenger linerBarbarossa For nearly two decadesshe served in commercial trade underthe flag of the North German Lloydfirm The Barbarossa was laid up atHoboken New Jersey in August1914 after the outbreak of WorldWar I She was seized there when theUnited States entered the conflict inApril 1917 The German crew hadblasted the engine cylinders so that
they couldnt be used It was a won-derful passenger ship with beautifulmahogany staterooms This was theship on which Kaiser Wilhelm madehis trip around the world
The ship was turned over to theNavy for repair and conversionand commissioned as USSBarbarossa in early August 1917Soon renamed Mercury and laterassigned the registry ID 3012she began carrying militarypersonnel to France a few daysafter the beginning of 1918 Theship made seven trips to France
with over 18000 passengers untilthe 11 November 1918 Armisticehalted the fighting Mercury thenbegan the process of bringingAmerican troops home She madeseven more trips for this purposecarrying over 20000 men
In September 1919 after her finaltrip USS Mercury was decom-missioned and transferred to theWar Department for use as anArmy transport The Army turnedher over to the US ShippingBoard in August 1920 Thoughsubsequently sold to a privateshipping firm her new ownersdefaulted and the ship came backto the Shipping Board in January1921 She was sold for scrap inFebruary 1924
The above article is from the Departmentof the Navy ndash Naval History and HeritageCommand
U S S B A R B A R O S S A U S S M E R C U R Y ( I D 3 0 1 2 )1 9 1 7 - 1 9 1 9
T H E C O B B L E S T O N E S I S L A T E
Dear Readers
As I am sure you realize you arereceiving this issue of the Cobble-stones over a month late The rea-son for this is that I had acatastrophic failure of my maincomputer
If anyone is interested the fan inthe power supply in my computerwas slowly failing and I didnrsquotrealize it Over a month ago the fanstopped and before I knew it andcould turn off the computer the
power supply failed and in sodoing it ldquofriedrdquo the mother boardwhich means the computer wasuseless
Usually when I get a new com-puter I buy a product such asLapLink which consists of somesoftware and a special cable thatruns from the old computer to thenew one This provides for the pro-grams and data on the old com-puter to be rapidly moved to andcorrectly installed on the new
computer
Since my old computer was dead Icouldnrsquot do that and had to comeup with a way to get everything offmy old disk drives onto the newcomputer I have finally accom-plished this and installed all neces-sary software on the newcomputer So I am finally back inbusiness
Thank you for your patience
The Editor
Page 6 July 2014
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
MEMORIAL GIVINGTO CAHS
Colfax Area Historical Societywelcomes gifts and memorials
in honor or in memory ofloved ones and friends Tomake a gift please include
your check with the form onthe right and mail to
Colfax Area Historical SocietyAttention
Memorials SecretaryP O Box 185
Colfax CA 95713-0185
M Y R T L E F I N D L A Y rsquo S9 5 t h
G i f t i n H o n o r o r i n M e m o r y
Of ____________________________________________
____________________________________________
By ____________________________________________
____________________________________________
Address _______________________________________
Email _________________________________________
Phone ________________________________________
Amount _______________________________________
Richard Wixon
Undedicated ldquo ldquo ldquo ldquo
Ken amp Mickey Fletcher amp Mavis WrightJay MacIntyreBeth MurphyRoger StaabHelen and Dick WaylandGold Country Lionesses
A N O T H E R L O S S F O R T H I S F A M I L YRichard PhillipWixon passedaway onThursday July17 2014 Hehad just returnedfrom his morningwalk He was 76
Richard wasborn March 1 1938 in SomervilleMA On July 6 1959 Richardmarried Carlotta Paul in Los GatosRichard joined the Coast Guard afterhigh school and worked for theCampbell Fire and PoliceDepartments He earned a BAdegree in Police Science
He enjoyed logging competitionsmotorcycles fishing and most of all
his family
Richard is survived by his wifeCarlotta son Donald Wixongrandsons SSergeant Patrick(Celeste) Wixon and Cody Sagangranddaughter Sarah Thompsonmother-in-law Gertude Paul andfour great grandchildren He waspreceded in death by his daughterSuzanne Sagan his grandson HeathSagan and parents Arthur and MaryWixon
A Service of Thanksgiving was heldat Peace Lutheran Church on FridayJuly 25
Our hearts go out to CarlottaDonald Gertrude and the rest of thefamily
Do you have any stories or photos youwould like to sharePlease email them to the editor atmelcouch57gmailcomSubject line Cobblestones
C A H S M E M B E R S H I P ndash J O I N U SObjectives
To support and promoteeducational and researchactivities and interest in thehistory of the Colfax area topromote and establish a localmuseum to work with otherHistorical Societies and localgroups to discover collect andmake accessible to the publichistorical facts and objects tomark places and buildings ofhistorical interest in the Colfaxarea and catalog such markersin an orderly manner to registerhistorical landmarks andbuildings to accept gifts anddonations from the public andother organizations and to raise
funds to accomplish all theabove
Meetings
General Meetings 4 yearLocations will be announced
Board of Directors 4yearLocated in the Depot at99 Railroad Avenue Colfax
Membership and Annual Dues
Regular (single) Member $2000
Family (including children) $2500
Junior (not included in Family) $ 500
Business (includes ad) $3500
Non-profit Organizations $3500
Additional contributions are always welcome
Dues apply to the fiscal year July 1 to June 30 and aretax-deductible Members receive quarterly issues of theColfax Cobblestones and a 10 discount at the GiftShop in the Museum If desired an annual membershipcard may be obtained at the Museum
Make checks payable to Colfax Area Historical SocietyPlease send check with your name address phoneemail address membership class and amount enclosedto CAHS PO Box 185 Colfax CA 95713 or go to theMuseum to sign up
S P R I N G amp S U M M E R M E E T I N G S
The Summer Meeting and IceCream Social was held onSaturday July 26 at 700 pm atthe Depot Our guest speaker wasdeputy sheriff Sgt Ty ConnersCommander of the Sheriffrsquos OfficeColfax Subsation He answered alot of questions from the attendees
We had an excellent turnouteither because of Sgt Connersbeing our guest speaker orbecause it was our annual Ice
Cream Social I believe the turnouthad a lot more to do with ourexcellent guest speaker
At our SpringMeeting onMay 17ChrisBierwagenspoke andshowed oldslides aboutthe history ofpear orchardsin Chicago Park
Sgt Ty Conners and hismother Sue
S U P P O R T O U R L O C A L B U S I N E S S A N D O R G A N I Z A T I O N M E M B E R S
American LegionColfax Post 192PO Box 311Colfax CA 95713
Teri Andrews-MurchRealtor wLyon Real Estate1900 Grass Valley HwySuite 100 AuburnDirect 530-798-0215tandrewsmurchgolyoncomwwwFoothillsHotPropertiescom
Colfax Dental Center120 Whitcomb AvenuePO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713346-6244
Colfax Elementary School DistrictPO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713530-346-6244
Colfax Garden ClubPO Box 1801Colfax CA 95713346-8561forgivenamicablewavecom
Kurtis H Fox MD IncPO Box 1199Colfax CA 95713346-2281
Grace Hubley Foundation24820 Ben Taylor RoadColfax CA 95713530-863-3698infogracehubleyfoundationorg
Pick-A-Flick VideoPO Box 29(6 N Main Street)Colfax Ca 95713530-346-8808
Placer County Historical SocietyPO Box 5643Auburn CA 95604
Sierra Business ServiceJames and Barbara Kelly520-D So Auburn StreetColfax CA 95713346-2455barbkellyfoothillnet
Sierra Vista Community CenterPO Box 88(55 School Street)Colfax530-346-8726
VFW Ladies AuxiliaryPost 2003PO Box 1213Colfax CA 95713(Pres) 636-4242
Page 6 July 2014
See us on the Web at wwwColfaxHistoryorg
MEMORIAL GIVINGTO CAHS
Colfax Area Historical Societywelcomes gifts and memorials
in honor or in memory ofloved ones and friends Tomake a gift please include
your check with the form onthe right and mail to
Colfax Area Historical SocietyAttention
Memorials SecretaryP O Box 185
Colfax CA 95713-0185
M Y R T L E F I N D L A Y rsquo S9 5 t h
G i f t i n H o n o r o r i n M e m o r y
Of ____________________________________________
____________________________________________
By ____________________________________________
____________________________________________
Address _______________________________________
Email _________________________________________
Phone ________________________________________
Amount _______________________________________
Richard Wixon
Undedicated ldquo ldquo ldquo ldquo
Ken amp Mickey Fletcher amp Mavis WrightJay MacIntyreBeth MurphyRoger StaabHelen and Dick WaylandGold Country Lionesses
A N O T H E R L O S S F O R T H I S F A M I L YRichard PhillipWixon passedaway onThursday July17 2014 Hehad just returnedfrom his morningwalk He was 76
Richard wasborn March 1 1938 in SomervilleMA On July 6 1959 Richardmarried Carlotta Paul in Los GatosRichard joined the Coast Guard afterhigh school and worked for theCampbell Fire and PoliceDepartments He earned a BAdegree in Police Science
He enjoyed logging competitionsmotorcycles fishing and most of all
his family
Richard is survived by his wifeCarlotta son Donald Wixongrandsons SSergeant Patrick(Celeste) Wixon and Cody Sagangranddaughter Sarah Thompsonmother-in-law Gertude Paul andfour great grandchildren He waspreceded in death by his daughterSuzanne Sagan his grandson HeathSagan and parents Arthur and MaryWixon
A Service of Thanksgiving was heldat Peace Lutheran Church on FridayJuly 25
Our hearts go out to CarlottaDonald Gertrude and the rest of thefamily
Do you have any stories or photos youwould like to sharePlease email them to the editor atmelcouch57gmailcomSubject line Cobblestones
C A H S M E M B E R S H I P ndash J O I N U SObjectives
To support and promoteeducational and researchactivities and interest in thehistory of the Colfax area topromote and establish a localmuseum to work with otherHistorical Societies and localgroups to discover collect andmake accessible to the publichistorical facts and objects tomark places and buildings ofhistorical interest in the Colfaxarea and catalog such markersin an orderly manner to registerhistorical landmarks andbuildings to accept gifts anddonations from the public andother organizations and to raise
funds to accomplish all theabove
Meetings
General Meetings 4 yearLocations will be announced
Board of Directors 4yearLocated in the Depot at99 Railroad Avenue Colfax
Membership and Annual Dues
Regular (single) Member $2000
Family (including children) $2500
Junior (not included in Family) $ 500
Business (includes ad) $3500
Non-profit Organizations $3500
Additional contributions are always welcome
Dues apply to the fiscal year July 1 to June 30 and aretax-deductible Members receive quarterly issues of theColfax Cobblestones and a 10 discount at the GiftShop in the Museum If desired an annual membershipcard may be obtained at the Museum
Make checks payable to Colfax Area Historical SocietyPlease send check with your name address phoneemail address membership class and amount enclosedto CAHS PO Box 185 Colfax CA 95713 or go to theMuseum to sign up
S P R I N G amp S U M M E R M E E T I N G S
The Summer Meeting and IceCream Social was held onSaturday July 26 at 700 pm atthe Depot Our guest speaker wasdeputy sheriff Sgt Ty ConnersCommander of the Sheriffrsquos OfficeColfax Subsation He answered alot of questions from the attendees
We had an excellent turnouteither because of Sgt Connersbeing our guest speaker orbecause it was our annual Ice
Cream Social I believe the turnouthad a lot more to do with ourexcellent guest speaker
At our SpringMeeting onMay 17ChrisBierwagenspoke andshowed oldslides aboutthe history ofpear orchardsin Chicago Park
Sgt Ty Conners and hismother Sue
S U P P O R T O U R L O C A L B U S I N E S S A N D O R G A N I Z A T I O N M E M B E R S
American LegionColfax Post 192PO Box 311Colfax CA 95713
Teri Andrews-MurchRealtor wLyon Real Estate1900 Grass Valley HwySuite 100 AuburnDirect 530-798-0215tandrewsmurchgolyoncomwwwFoothillsHotPropertiescom
Colfax Dental Center120 Whitcomb AvenuePO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713346-6244
Colfax Elementary School DistrictPO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713530-346-6244
Colfax Garden ClubPO Box 1801Colfax CA 95713346-8561forgivenamicablewavecom
Kurtis H Fox MD IncPO Box 1199Colfax CA 95713346-2281
Grace Hubley Foundation24820 Ben Taylor RoadColfax CA 95713530-863-3698infogracehubleyfoundationorg
Pick-A-Flick VideoPO Box 29(6 N Main Street)Colfax Ca 95713530-346-8808
Placer County Historical SocietyPO Box 5643Auburn CA 95604
Sierra Business ServiceJames and Barbara Kelly520-D So Auburn StreetColfax CA 95713346-2455barbkellyfoothillnet
Sierra Vista Community CenterPO Box 88(55 School Street)Colfax530-346-8726
VFW Ladies AuxiliaryPost 2003PO Box 1213Colfax CA 95713(Pres) 636-4242
Do you have any stories or photos youwould like to sharePlease email them to the editor atmelcouch57gmailcomSubject line Cobblestones
C A H S M E M B E R S H I P ndash J O I N U SObjectives
To support and promoteeducational and researchactivities and interest in thehistory of the Colfax area topromote and establish a localmuseum to work with otherHistorical Societies and localgroups to discover collect andmake accessible to the publichistorical facts and objects tomark places and buildings ofhistorical interest in the Colfaxarea and catalog such markersin an orderly manner to registerhistorical landmarks andbuildings to accept gifts anddonations from the public andother organizations and to raise
funds to accomplish all theabove
Meetings
General Meetings 4 yearLocations will be announced
Board of Directors 4yearLocated in the Depot at99 Railroad Avenue Colfax
Membership and Annual Dues
Regular (single) Member $2000
Family (including children) $2500
Junior (not included in Family) $ 500
Business (includes ad) $3500
Non-profit Organizations $3500
Additional contributions are always welcome
Dues apply to the fiscal year July 1 to June 30 and aretax-deductible Members receive quarterly issues of theColfax Cobblestones and a 10 discount at the GiftShop in the Museum If desired an annual membershipcard may be obtained at the Museum
Make checks payable to Colfax Area Historical SocietyPlease send check with your name address phoneemail address membership class and amount enclosedto CAHS PO Box 185 Colfax CA 95713 or go to theMuseum to sign up
S P R I N G amp S U M M E R M E E T I N G S
The Summer Meeting and IceCream Social was held onSaturday July 26 at 700 pm atthe Depot Our guest speaker wasdeputy sheriff Sgt Ty ConnersCommander of the Sheriffrsquos OfficeColfax Subsation He answered alot of questions from the attendees
We had an excellent turnouteither because of Sgt Connersbeing our guest speaker orbecause it was our annual Ice
Cream Social I believe the turnouthad a lot more to do with ourexcellent guest speaker
At our SpringMeeting onMay 17ChrisBierwagenspoke andshowed oldslides aboutthe history ofpear orchardsin Chicago Park
Sgt Ty Conners and hismother Sue
S U P P O R T O U R L O C A L B U S I N E S S A N D O R G A N I Z A T I O N M E M B E R S
American LegionColfax Post 192PO Box 311Colfax CA 95713
Teri Andrews-MurchRealtor wLyon Real Estate1900 Grass Valley HwySuite 100 AuburnDirect 530-798-0215tandrewsmurchgolyoncomwwwFoothillsHotPropertiescom
Colfax Dental Center120 Whitcomb AvenuePO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713346-6244
Colfax Elementary School DistrictPO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713530-346-6244
Colfax Garden ClubPO Box 1801Colfax CA 95713346-8561forgivenamicablewavecom
Kurtis H Fox MD IncPO Box 1199Colfax CA 95713346-2281
Grace Hubley Foundation24820 Ben Taylor RoadColfax CA 95713530-863-3698infogracehubleyfoundationorg
Pick-A-Flick VideoPO Box 29(6 N Main Street)Colfax Ca 95713530-346-8808
Placer County Historical SocietyPO Box 5643Auburn CA 95604
Sierra Business ServiceJames and Barbara Kelly520-D So Auburn StreetColfax CA 95713346-2455barbkellyfoothillnet
Sierra Vista Community CenterPO Box 88(55 School Street)Colfax530-346-8726
VFW Ladies AuxiliaryPost 2003PO Box 1213Colfax CA 95713(Pres) 636-4242
S U P P O R T O U R L O C A L B U S I N E S S A N D O R G A N I Z A T I O N M E M B E R S
American LegionColfax Post 192PO Box 311Colfax CA 95713
Teri Andrews-MurchRealtor wLyon Real Estate1900 Grass Valley HwySuite 100 AuburnDirect 530-798-0215tandrewsmurchgolyoncomwwwFoothillsHotPropertiescom
Colfax Dental Center120 Whitcomb AvenuePO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713346-6244
Colfax Elementary School DistrictPO Box 1080Colfax CA 95713530-346-6244
Colfax Garden ClubPO Box 1801Colfax CA 95713346-8561forgivenamicablewavecom
Kurtis H Fox MD IncPO Box 1199Colfax CA 95713346-2281
Grace Hubley Foundation24820 Ben Taylor RoadColfax CA 95713530-863-3698infogracehubleyfoundationorg
Pick-A-Flick VideoPO Box 29(6 N Main Street)Colfax Ca 95713530-346-8808
Placer County Historical SocietyPO Box 5643Auburn CA 95604
Sierra Business ServiceJames and Barbara Kelly520-D So Auburn StreetColfax CA 95713346-2455barbkellyfoothillnet
Sierra Vista Community CenterPO Box 88(55 School Street)Colfax530-346-8726
VFW Ladies AuxiliaryPost 2003PO Box 1213Colfax CA 95713(Pres) 636-4242
